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Jeffco's Citizen Budget Review Panel is recommending that the county finance several major construction projects over the next 20 years and establish a fund to handle annual maintenance and replacement costs — all without raising taxes.

Several South Jeffco homes have been hit by overnight burglaries recently, in some cases while the families were at home.

Five burglaries were reported in the Columbine Knolls South and Foothill Green neighborhoods between May 26 and 28, according to the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office. In three of those cases, the families were home at the time and were sleeping. The suspects never confronted the families.

A new pretrial assessment program could make it possible for Jeffco judges to grant more defendants bail and dramatically reduce the population at the jail.

The program would restructure the way judges make decisions on granting bail, which could reduce the jail population by up to 300 inmates per day, Tom Giacinti, the county's justice services director, told the county commissioners May 26.

Valentine’s Day 2000 will forever be burned into the memories of two South Jeffco families.

On that day, 15-year-old Nicholas Kunselman and 16-year-old Stephanie Hart were found murdered at a Subway sandwich shop on West Coal Mine Avenue near Columbine High School. More than nine years later, the case remains unsolved.

The ever-evolving plans to move and expand the Table Mountain Animal Center took a new turn when county leaders recently approved spending $5.2 million from the general fund.

The county will then issue $5.2 million in “certificates of participation” to repay the general fund. Certificates of participation are a form of lease-purchase financing that does not require voter approval; the county plans to fund the debt payments with revenue from dog licenses.

A Denver-based Latino advocacy organization is helping Latino residents apply for food stamps in Jefferson County, and the county says the project has been a huge help.

The Latin American Research and Service Agency recently was awarded a federal grant to help low-income Latino households apply for food stamps in Jefferson, Adams, Arapahoe, Boulder and Denver counties.

The nonprofit group initially planned to use the money to encourage more Latinos to apply for benefits but after meeting with county officials, it became clear the mission had to change.

Jefferson County's general fund maintained a healthy balance in the first quarter of 2009, but it reflects some of the country's economic woes when compared with the first three months of 2008, according to a recent presentation by the county's top budget official.

The county's general fund is doing fine, even though revenues are down or flat and expenditures are up, County Administration and Services Director Todd Leopold told county commissioners May 19.